On 4.3.17, I received an e-mail from Hello World which declared me a winner in the 2017 Martha Stewart Your Engaged Sweepstakes. I won the Grand Prize of a 4 Day 3 night trip to a Sandals Resort of my choosing. Airfare not included but roundtrip transportation from/to airport included. I was to receive my prize in 8-10 weeks which has now well passed. I have contacted the Administrator (Hello World) who said 2 weeks ago they contacted the sponsor in my behalf. I have not received any information from the sponsor and Hello World is asking for my patience while they try to find out who I may contact at the sponsor Meredith Corporation.

I would like to work with a travel agent to extend my stay (my expense of course) but I need to receive the prize so I can begin planning.

HelloWorld is the "industry leader" in sweepstakes administration and very reputable - just follow up with them routinely - Meredith Corp. is also a large sponsor so I know that it will work out for you and your amazing win. It is just very frustrating that it has been so long but just be patient and document all of your correspondence with both HelloWorld and Meredith Corp. GOOD LUCK and have a wonderful trip!

Congratulations on your win! I've won trips from ePrize/Hello World before. Be sure you document the actual cost of your trip. Some sponsors--even working with ePrize--will inflate the value to give themselves a bigger tax write-off. You don't want to receive a huge 1040 form next year.

Talk to the rep of the prize coordinator. I know from experience and others have posted you can get it extended. If you are lucky they will do it via their planning team and you can get the extra days at their cost which for companies is always cheaper. We won a trip for 4 to Nick Studioes in FL. After getting days extended and made for 6 ppl because we had 4 children with airfare it ended up costing us nothing because it was still within their ARV stated in the prize. 1099 was for $2400 after it was all said and done. Now that was 2004 but come on. Who can fly from PA to FL with 6 ppl, hotel for 6 nights, tickets to Universal and meals for that amount?